Trapped man tried cutting off his own arm

Jonathan Metz had been trapped for two days in his basement with his left arm stuck in a broken furnace. Smelling rotting flesh, he decided that amputation was his only hope.

So the 31-year-old fashioned a tourniquet near his shoulder and began cutting. He made it almost all the way through, but wasn't able to free himself.

He was rescued Wednesday after three days in his West Hartford basement when worried friends called police, and firefighters cut the furnace apart.

Doctors gave the account of Metz's harrowing experience at a news conference Thursday. They said the attempted self-amputation probably saved his life, preventing the infection in his gangrenous arm from spreading to the rest of his body.

"There was a little bit of fat that remained and he was in and out of consciousness," said Dr. Scott Ellner, Metz' surgeon at Hartford's Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center. "It sounds like maybe there was a nerve there that prevented him from completing the amputation."

Full Story here


Incredible story of survival in west Hartford



I don't really know what to say. A regular household chore turned into an epic struggle. The man was desperate and brave as hell. He's lucky to be alive. Brings back memories of Aron Ralston.

Wow what an amazing story! It gives me the chills to think what I would do in that situation...

Reminds me of this guy.
entertainment.timesonline.co.uk...

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

reply to post by LadySkadi


This made me cringe in my seat! I would never be able to do this! Wow for him.

reply to post by DucTape


I was going to mention that. I have heard about the story of the climber who had to cut off his arm.

I can't even imagine being in a situation where you have to inflict such pain but make yourself do it in order to survived.

I am not a plumber by any stretch of the imagination, but couldnt' of the guy in the basement cut through the pipe instead of the arm?

found some other cases.
www.foxnews.com...

www.guardian.co.uk...

I guess we are not to far from the animals,
www.newscientist.com...

Some questions of mine.

1. How does one get stuck in a furnace?
2. How did his flesh begin rotting?
3. If its from being burnt, Who wouldnt turn off a furnace to begin working on it?

reply to post by xynephadyn


Good questions. The story didn't give much detail other than to say the firefighters had to use the "jaws of life" to tear the furnace apart. I can only presume that the rotting flesh was from the gangrene (not from being burned) and the doctor said that trying to amputate his arm actually may have saved his life, since it prevented the gangrene from spreading. Really freaky accident.

reply to post by LadySkadi


This is why I keep my cell phone with me all the time. Never know where you can slip and fall, get stuck, ect.

I'd probably just submit myself to a slow death. Don't think I'd have the co-jones to cut off my own arm.

reply to post by Monger


I don't think any of us "really" know what we would be capable of doing to survive, until we are in that type of situation [life or death] and faced with making a choice...

Originally posted by Monger
I'd probably just submit myself to a slow death. Don't think I'd have the co-jones to cut off my own arm.

I'm sure that's what the people who end up cutting their limbs off to survive think too.

Being faced with certain death has got to get the blood pumping and the hormones going big time.

The thing I don't get is how his arm could caught so bad.

A better headline would be "Man caught by furnace and stuck eats own arm. Details and exclusive pics here"

Nice work.

Originally posted by LadySkadi


I don't really know what to say. A regular household chore turned into an epic struggle.

Somehow I'm reminded of Stephen King's Maximum Overdrive prophecy where all of the APPLIANCES START TO KILL EVERYONE!!! This story is just a sign of more things to come!!

reply to post by xynephadyn


I think when a limb is crushed by something for an extended period of time, it begins to die from lack of blood circulation. This is why it would have started to rot. The attempted amputation probably saved his life because the rotting creates toxins that can spread to the rest of the body and kill you.